This is a very early
Trappe area photograph portrait of Joseph (1812-1858)
and his wife Mary Elizabeth (1813-1868) Caulk taken
in 1857 or 1858. He built the brick house at Isle of
Rays farm (now called Roslyn) on northside Island
Creek Neck in the 1840s.
The photograph is an
ambrotype which is a very early type of photograph
mainly used in the 1855-1865 period. It measures 3
1/4 x 4 1/4 and is in a hinged case patented in 1857.
The ambrotype photograph is a negative image on glass
which appears positive when the back is painted with
a black composition, but the image is reversed.